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eh?.. of course I do 😕GW do you lean your bike at all?! Trail centres all year? Brave boy.
What's your point?
a minion DHF is the one of the best most predictable drifting tyres available.
Bling blings are basically a much faster rolling more drifty semi-semi slick DHF with practically the same edge once it's leant over.
the only time a bling is out of it's depth is on a proper greasy mud climb where it can't dig in. (I actually love them DH on mud they're slidey as **** until you lean over and trust the edge)
GW do you lean your bike at all?! Trail centres all year? Brave boy.
OMG, NEVER EVER question the totality of GW's radness!
He's Epic Awesome!
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I'm currently running Geax Argo 2.0 (more like 1.8s), light and tenaciously grippy. I'll stick with them until the height of summer, when I'll be putting some Conti Race Kings on.
Summer - Maxxis Ignitor
Winter - Panaracer Trail Raker
Trail Centres - Maxxis Advantage (F) / Maxxis Aspen (R)
[i]Whats the difference between RR and Nobby Nics, I use NN's all year round and dont find them a problem.[/i]
The NNs have been re-branded as more of a trail tyre now. The RRo has taken over as the new front tyre for racing. I am also a RRo RR user for races. I am interested in trying something different though as I find that when new the Schwalbe tyres perform really well but as soon as they start to wear their performance drops considerably faster than the wear would suggest.
The best all-rounder I've used in terms of grip and that has to be a WTB Werewolf 2.1. Good on most surfaces, but a little puncture prone. Trouble is if you go for more puncture resistant tyres they then tend to be a bit heavier and/or don't grip as well due to a harder rubber compound. The Werewolves offered the best compromise I've found so far. The Spesh Enduros what Kevevs found dumped outside the back of London Bridge Evans (brand new too) that I then nicked off him have been pretty good too actually. Bit worn now though.
I've never spent more than fifteen pounds each on tyres though. Cheap in sales/online is the only way.
I'm completely converted to the way of the low-profile tread. Racing Ralphs for me last year, Maxxis Ikon this year.
Predictable, fast. That's what I'm after.
Big knobbly tyres strike me as being a bit like massive disc rotors. Useful in their place, but most often just for carpark willy-waving and imagined radness.
Low-profile tyres are useless in mud. Might as well have slicks on for all the grip they give you.
charge splashbacks 1.8 😉
Advantage 2.1 UST front, Rocket Ron Tubeless Ready rear
Maxxis Medusa 1.8 for mud
Low-profile tyres are useless in mud. Might as well have slicks on for all the grip they give you.
Tell that to Steve Webb who won Dusk Till Dawn's mudbath last year on Racing Ralphs.
I like tubeless but one consequence is that changing tyres is too much of a faff to do more than twice a year. Knobbly tyres on soon, back off again in April probably.
I find RR are hard to beat or NN if a bit more rufty tufty such as Trans Wales or gloopy such as Thetford in the wet.
I had an Ignitor for a year on the rear and it was truly awful. Fast and light but even a fast and light tyre should offer some control!
JRA recommend highly the 2.1 HR but I had one on the front and found that fairly useless (but better than the Ignitor). In 2.35 guise its a good trail tyre.
Schwalbes always look weak and vulnerable but amazingly I've never had a puncture or rip. Always run on Stans rims.
I really like Bonty XR4's, found Panaracer Fire's and WTB's a bit too prone to letting go, am tempted to try some nobby nic's tbf
For summer, small block 8s... Stupidly fast for something with that sort of grip, but not fragile like a proper race tyre, and nice volume. But for winter they're pretty much pure undiluted slide.
I loved my 2.25NN with 2.1 RaRa combo which I ran almost all of last year.
Then switched to Advantage 2.1 Exc and then to 2.2 Rubber Queen - finally settled on a 2.2 Rubber Queen up front with the 2.1 Advantage Exc on the rear.
Tried the old Schwalbe combo again recently and felt like they were trying to kill me everywhere I rode. Tonight lost the front and back in different directions simultaneously and somehow didn't crash. Suffice to say the Nobby nic and Ralph are going in the parts box tomorrow. The Rubber Queen/Advantage combo are coming back out.
Oh and Schwalbe Dirty Dan 2.0 when it gets really muddy. Light and seem to find grip in all but the sloppiest conditions. Bit draggy away from the mud but the light weight makes up for that.